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Merriam Webster defines swirling as moving in a twisting or spiraling pattern. People obsessed with interracial dating defines it as the act of dating ‘non-black’ men or women. I’m not sure who came up with the word “swirling” but please, I implore you, stop using it.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine and he’s a little green when it comes to internet “lingo”. I asked him what did he think about interracial dating being referred to as swirling. First he gave me a strange look, then he asked, “What?”. Yes, he’s white and he thought it was the most laughable word ever. I explained how there’s websites built around the idea of “swirling”. Books have been written about “swirling”. “So people have been making money off such an asinine word?” he asked. Why yes, they have.

It’s not so much the fact that people are profiting off of the word, but the use of the word in general is a bit much. I understand that “swirling” is supposed to symbolize some soft serve ice cream coming together as one. But I’d rather not relate a relationship to some Dairy Queen soft serve. Swirling reminds me of when people referred to it previously as “Jungle Fever”. Just because you sweeten up the name doesn’t make it any better.

Interracial dating is not something new. For many women and men it wasn’t something that started as a last result or being fed up with people of their own ethnic background. It was done because it is what it is, just dating. Finding someone that you get along with and not taking their color or lack thereof into question. But then you come to the Internet and you find the obsessive ones who felt the need to give it a childish colloquial name.

Sure, if you want to call it “swirling” because you think it’s a cutesy word, go right ahead. But there are those who prefer simply call it what it is. Dating or a relationship.

4 Comments

I like calling it swirling or “down with the swirl”, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I think it’s funny and cute. Better than calling it selling out or something extremely ignorant. Some people really need to lighten up… goodness.